Every Now and Then
by Fatale83
Summary: Kat is now 20, on summer break from university, and goes back to Whipstaff Manor. This is how I would have written the movie sequel.
1. Resurrecting Memories

Those eyes. She couldn't help but stare into them. They seemed so familiar to her, though she had never seen him before. And yet, he kept slowly walking towards her. She looked around, a bit uncomfortably, as he also stared straight at her, a mysterious air about him. He kept looking at her, and she did the same. He held out his hand and asked her to dance. She reached out her hand, still fixated on his incredible blue eyes, and rose as he led her to the dance floor. The room and it's occupants faded away, leaving only her, him and the song…

_ _

_"…I'll make a wish for you_

And hope it will come true That life would just be kind 

_To such a gentle mind…"_

_ _

_They had stopped at the middle of the dance floor, and he brought her around to face him, swaying to the music. She was purely hypnotized. His face was of a baby-like quality, freckles adorning his soft, pale cheeks, his costume reminiscent of a swash-buckling pirate. He delicately held onto her hands as they swayed, until he lightly pulled them up to allow them to rest on the back of his neck. His hands slowly went back down and gently rested on her hips. Their gaze was un-broken from the time their eyes first met. In that one moment, all other things disappeared, and she felt as if she were walking on air. A little too much, actually, for she looked down at her feet and saw that she and him were floating a good meter off of the ground. She gasped at the realization, panicked, and held onto him for dear life, frightened of a fall. All he did was tightly hold onto her as well, softly laugh, and smile, "I told you I was a good dancer… Can I keep you?"_

_ _

"Miss Harvey…? Miss Harvey…?"

Kat felt a sudden sharp pain in her side that brought her out of her daydream. She looked to her left to see her friend, Tracy Forbes, motioning with her eyes to the front of the class where Professor Kireef, Kat's Chemistry Professor, stood impatiently. Kat's eyes widened with horror as she saw others were waiting on her. "I'm sorry, which question are we on?" she sheepishly asked. Snickers and giggles came from some of the students seated within the lecture theatre, and Kat couldn't help but blush with embarrassment.

"We are on review question number sixteen, Miss Harvey. Could you please tell us how many moles of sodium are needed to keep the equation balanced?"

Kat looked over the review package that Professor Kireef had given the students at the beginning of class and realized she was still back on question 8. 'How long was I out for?' she asked herself in disbelief. She flipped the page over and found the question that Kireef was talking about. "Oh… uh, you'll need 3 moles of sodium."

"Very good. Took you some time, but that's correct. Please pay more attention, Miss Harvey. There are only 3 more days till the final… Who would like to answer the next question…?" Kireef's voice trailed off as Kat breathed a sigh of relief, and ran her fingers through her now short, brown hair, which was highlighted with a tinge of blonde.

Tracy leaned over, "Nice save… I knew I should've poked you earlier! Looked like it was a nice place, wherever it was." she commented with a smile. Kat couldn't help but smile. 'Oh, it was,' she thought to herself and sighed, 'it surely was…'

It was early Saturday afternoon, and the dorm room that belonged to Kat and Tracy was an absolute mess. Moving boxes, suitcases and CD's were scattered everywhere, and the two girls were sitting lazily on the floor, eating PB & J sandwiches and drinking iced teas.

"So, back to ol' Friendship, Maine for the summer, huh? You excited?" Tracy asked with a mouth full of peanut butter. 

Kat just sat, playing with the straw that danced around the inside of her iced tea bottle, "Hmm? Oh, ya, ya… it'll be great to see dad again…" Kat bobbed her head, agreeing, obviously a million miles away.

Tracy sighed, "There you go again, Kat. Lately you've been stuck on some other planet!" Kat stopped playing with her straw and just shrugged. Then a thought came to Tracy's mind, "Oh, Kat, you're not still hung up on this Casper guy that you first met in Friendship, are ya?" Kat straightened a bit, but didn't answer. She had told Tracy some of the things about her life in Friendship, but not absolutely everything. If she had told Tracy that Casper was a ghost who lived at Whipstaff Manor with his three ghostly uncles, she would've been committed to some mental institution for sure. She had told Tracy how hung up on Casper she was, and how he stood her up at a Halloween dance she hosted when she first came to Friendship. In reality, it wasn't Casper who had done all this, but Vic, Amber's supposed boyfriend. She had to cover somehow to make sure she left ghosts and her dad, the so-called ghost-shrink, out of her life story so she could keep some friends during her time at the University of Maine. She had so much trouble keeping friends when she moved around that making stories that made her appear more acceptable to others just became second nature to her. She realized she was staring off into space yet another time, and woke herself up to the present and looked at Tracy. "Kat, you have this one summer. Heck, you may not even see this Casper guy! So why worry about him? Yes, he was a jerk to you, but you shouldn't dwell on it to spoil the fun you could have." Tracy flashed a brave smile. Kat reluctantly did the same. Tracy got up and went to her closet, rummaged through it, and pulled out her silver roller blades. "You gonna be okay getting the rest of your stuff packed? I promised Sherry I'd met her at the path at one-thirty."

Kat nodded, "Ya, I should be okay… there isn't much else. I think I can manage." She stood up and put her hands in her back pockets. "I guess this is goodbye till September." she said with a sigh.

Tracy smiled, walked up and gave Kat a hug. "Ya, don't worry about me. Working for the summer cannot be all that bad, right?" she commented with a laugh. Kat smiled.

"Ya, you have fun."

"You too, Kat." They let go, and Tracy walked to the door, and waved. Kat waved back, and Tracy shut the door behind her.

Kat turned around to face the mess that had become the dorm room. She had most of her stuff packed, she just needed to pack up a few odds and ends. She walked over to her CD player that sat on top of her computer desk, filed through a few CD's, and took out one that had been at the bottom of the pile. This particular CD looked like it had seen better days, for the cover was scratched, only one of the hinges held onto the casing, and the lyric booklet was coming apart at the fold. It had certainly been played well. Kat smiled as she carefully took the CD from it's case, placed the CD in the player, and hit play on track 7, her favorite song…

_"Every now and then_

_We find a special friend_

_Who never lets us down_

_Who understands it all_

Reaches out each time we fall You're the best friend that I've found…" 

Kat put the CD case down, and walked over to her closet. The hanger rack was bare except for a few plastic blue hangers, and a shelf above that held only a few year-old chemistry textbooks. She bent down and pushed a few stuffed animals, which sat on the floor, aside. Concealed behind the stuffed animals was a square, silver metal case that had two metal latches on the front that locked the box shut. She pulled the box out, put a hand on either side where handles were, and carefully lifted the box off of the floor, and carried it over to her bed. She slowly undid each latch and opened the box. The inside revealed one of the golden vessels of red liquid that made the Lazarus work. The Lazarus was a machine built by Casper's father, J.T. McFadden, which, at the time, claimed to bring ghosts back to life. People at first were skeptical of the machine, and of the on-goings at Whipstaff Manor in general, so McFadden never had the chance to try out his machine. When Casper showed Kat the machine, he told her there was only enough of the solution for one. Kat wasn't aware at the time how great Casper's desire to be alive again was, and was touched when Casper decided to give up his dream to revive Kat's father, Dr. James Harvey, back to life again after a night on the town with the ghostly trio. Casper never did tell her how he became human again for the Halloween dance that night…

Kat took the vessel out of the protective gray foam that lined the box, and held it up at eye level, the red liquid catching the light. After her dad was revived, there were 3 vessels left, each only having a trickle of the solution at the bottom. Before Kat left for university, she secretly sneaked down the basement lab and took one of the vessels from the Lazarus. In doing this she hoped to study the liquid in her spare time, since she was going on to major in chemistry, and somehow recreate the liquid that would revive a ghost back to it's original human form. Just enough for one…


	2. Homecoming

_She slowly pulled back from his gentle hold on her and carefully studied his eyes, searching for the answer that she already knew. Those words he so tenderly spoke seemed all too familiar as his ocean-blue eyes continued to stare into her soul. One name instantly entered her mind, and she wanted to know if it was really true… "Casper?" she asked breathlessly. All the fair young boy now standing in front of her did was graciously smile back at her, confirming his answer. She couldn't believe her eyes. She was amazed to see his boyish figure in front of her now, and realized that her ghostly pal was this chivalrous young man. She gasped with delight and smiled brightly as she rejoined him in their slow dance, holding him in a tight embrace. The music seemed to fade away as they swayed in their dance, the air clearing as the crowd formed a circle around them. It simply felt as though time had stopped._

Time. 

The dusty grandfather clock that sat on the stairwell began to toll the hour with a loud, gong-like sound. Remembering the angel's words only earlier that night, he lifted his eyes to stare at the time on the clock and unfortunately knew what it meant. It was the moment that he hoped would not come. To have to say goodbye to her now in the body he wished he could stay in. His movements started to slow as the clock continued its announcement of the hour. She kept her tight embrace on him, which made it harder for him to leave. She suddenly realized he had stopped moving and was distant. Something was wrong. Worried, she pulled back from the embrace to look deep into his eyes once more. He gazed lovingly upon the soft, beautiful features of her face and couldn't help but look at her as if she were the most precious thing in the whole world. He didn't want this moment to end. He didn't want to let her go. She looked up at him fearfully and wondered what was wrong. "Casper?" she breathlessly asked once more. He looked upon her affectionately one last time, taking in all her beauty and grace and the feel of her form within his arms, and leaned in… giving her a soft, tender kiss…

The muffled sound of distant thunder awoke Casper from his thoughts. Night had fallen and he was once again sitting atop the dusty lighthouse with his elbows on his knees; his head cradled in his hands. He went to the lighthouse every night. To be alone with his thoughts, or just to be alone in general, away from the taunting and teasing he constantly received from his uncles. They just never seemed to let up on him, and Casper knew that they probably never would. 

The sky that once let the moon cast its egg-white glow upon the earth was now overclouded with the intention of rain. Off in the distance, gray storm clouds released a burst of lightening or two, followed by the ominous sound of thunder. Close by, the waves from the sea lapped upon the rocky shore in shorter intervals. The wind had picked up, carrying the waves to shore at a quicker pace. Even the air wafted with the smell of rain. Another bright burst of lightening lighted up the sky, a bit closer this time to the sleepy town of Friendship, and a loud clap of thunder boomed through the night, lightly shaking the lighthouse underneath him. The storm was drawing closer to shore. Casper decided it was time to go back inside. With a lonely sigh, he floated himself up and back to Whipstaff Manor.

Casper got back to the balcony that belonged to Kat's old bedroom, and his as well. The wind had picked up even more, making the balcony doors swing violently back and forth. Casper had left them open like he always did when he made his journeys to the lighthouse, he just didn't expect the wind to pick up as much as it did tonight. Fighting against the wind's force, as well as the disadvantage his ghostly form had against it, he slowly got both doors shut, locking them back into place. Casper turned around and slowly floated back down to the floor, surveying Kat's bedroom with his wide, blue eyes. It had been a very lonely and empty place since Kat left to go to university, taking only the necessities. Kat was so full of life that she brought warmth to the place whenever she was there. Now the room was cold and dark, much like how it was before Kat and her father moved in to Whipstaff Manor. 

While his eyes roamed the room, they came to rest upon a picture frame that sat upon her bedside table. Casper floated up and over to sit upon Kat's bed next to the table, picking up the frame with his ghost-white hands. When Kat first moved to Whipstaff, the picture had been a black and white photo of her mother, Amelia. Casper remembered how Kat reminisced about her mother one night in her room, how she loved her mother very much and remembered so much about her. Casper knew that Amelia still lived within Kat's heart, and that nothing would ever change that. The photo was one of Kat's necessities, so she took it with her to the university. Now the picture frame was a bit different, with a different intricate pattern of silver metal used with a different picture. The photo was that of Kat in her graduation cap and gown, holding onto the diploma prop that the photo studio used, smiling with delight as if it were the real thing.

Casper remembered. She looked so beautiful that day, going to the town to get her hair and makeup done, wanting to look just perfect for her grad picture. Casper felt she didn't need all of it because she looked perfect already, but he didn't say anything. Even on her prom night, she looked amazing. She couldn't have picked a more perfect dress: an all-white strapless gown with a small white lily pinned in her hair. The color reminded him of the dress Kat wore the night of the Halloween dance she hosted, the prom being another night he would have liked to spend with her in his human form. But alas his dreams of becoming human again by hand of the Lazarus were long gone, and Kat ended up going to the prom with a high school friend of hers.

"Knock, knock," a voice said from behind Casper, the sudden break in silence making him jump a bit. He turned around to see Dr. Harvey standing in the doorway, his hand pulling back from his knocking motion against the door.

Casper turned back to the photo in his hands and gently placed it back on the table where it stood before, "Oh… hi, Dr. Harvey…" Casper said glumly.

"I, uh, felt a draft and saw the storm coming in, and I knew you might've left the balcony doors open again so I came up to close them before the storm got any closer…" Dr. Harvey said, noticing Casper had been looking at Kat's graduation photo again.

"Oh…" was all Casper replied, still facing away from Dr. Harvey. A period of silence followed. Dr. Harvey wasn't sure what to say. Sure, he was a ghost shrink and all, but he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with Casper at times. He was the one ghost in the whole house that he felt was more fragile than the others let on. He was friendlier than the others, that was certain, but more lovesick than anything… and Dr. Harvey's intuition sensed it all. He walked into the room, and rounded the bed to sit down next to Casper.

"Kat phoned earlier this evening."

Casper looked up at Dr. Harvey from his glum state, his eyes lighting up as he did, "She did?"

Dr. Harvey nodded and smiled, "Yes. She did."

"Well, what did she say?" Casper asked eagerly.

Again, Dr. Harvey smiled, "She said that she was all packed up and ready to come back and stay for the summer. She's leaving early tomorrow morning and sounded very excited about coming back home."

Casper couldn't believe it. Kat was coming home. He had almost lost all track of time while she was gone, everyday seeming like every other without any difference in between. Of course it all made sense to him. Summer break. Kat had said at Christmas time she would come back to stay for the summer. It was summer now. Casper's insides screamed with joy, but on the outside he kept a calm composure, "That's great!"

Well, almost calm anyway.

Dr. Harvey was happy for the young ghost. He had noticed him being fairly sad and unresponsive a lot of the time, keeping to himself in Kat's room often. Seeing the ghost's face light up for the first time in months was a welcome change. "Yes, it is great," Dr. Harvey looked up at the clock that sat on the bed side table next to the grad picture, "And I think it's time both you and I get some rest," he motioned his head toward the clock, making Casper look at it as well, "Don't want to be too groggy with sleep when Kat comes back tomorrow."

"Ya," Casper replied, "you're right."

Dr. Harvey got up from the bed and walked back to the doorway, turning around to regard the ghost one last time, "Good night, Casper."

"Goodnight, Dr. Harvey."

With that, Dr. Harvey turned and went back down the small flight of stairs, tripping like he sometimes did on the last step, and headed to his bedroom down the hall.

Casper, still grinning, looked back up at the picture on the bedside table.

"Kat's coming home."

Everything glistened that morning with the fresh touch of spring rain that had apparently come down the night before. It was on the oak tree leaves, windows of the downtown shops, and on the grass of every well manicured lawn Kat's taxi passed that morning through Friendship. She had packed up all her things and stood outside her dorm early at 7 that morning, waiting for the taxi that would bring her back home. It was now almost 9 and the town seemed to be slowly waking up to start the day. Kat rolled down her window a bit to catch the smell of the fresh rain that hung around that morning. She loved that smell and truly knew that she was home.

The taxi finally made it's way up the one hill that seemed to tower over the town's landscape, and made it's way along the road through the gates and finally stopped just in front of the long staircase that led to the front door.

The taxi driver cut the engine, but didn't get out of the car. Instead he looked up through the windshield and stared in awe at the huge house in front of him. Kat looked out through the windshield as well, but had a different expression on her face. It was one of happiness and content, knowing that she was finally home. Kat undid her seatbelt, and was ready to open the passenger door when the taxi driver suddenly spoke.

"You actually live here?" he asked with great surprise.

Kat remembered something similar being said on her first day of school in Friendship. One of the students, like the rest of the class, just couldn't believe that she lived at Whipstaff Manor.

She smiled, "Yes. I actually do."


End file.
